AI is changing PR. That should make good corporate counsel more valuable  

I recently contributed to a Sunday Times article looking at whether PR is entering a new golden age. 

I noted that “AI is causing a degree of mass hysteria in an industry that has always been slightly ill at ease with itself”. That’s my call to end the waffle and snake oil and focus on the real opportunity the industry has in front of it, which I think is huge and Tangerine is at the forefront of. 

So far, AI’s greatest impact has been functional. AI is replacing some of the lower-value parts of the job: bland first drafts, basic reporting, initial research and routine administration. 

Any PR practitioner worth their salt should be able to see the opportunity beyond that. Our value increasingly lies in higher-skilled strategic thinking, commercial understanding and the confidence to give clients clear advice. 

As I noted in the Sunday Times, perversely, AI is increasing the human premium. 

There is a talent war developing for people with the best judgement, experience and ability to provide senior counsel. For the PR industry, this is a huge opportunity to knock spots off advertising, which has often tried its best to pigeonhole PR. You only need to look at the occasional piece of rage bait from Martin Sorrell to see that old habits die hard. 

PR now has an opportunity to demonstrate its value much closer to the decisions that affect reputation, performance and commercial success. 

Young PRs will need to learn judgement faster 

Early careers in PR will undoubtedly change. 

The traditional model allowed junior practitioners to earn their stripes through admin-heavy tasks. Monitoring coverage, building media lists, compiling reports and drafting basic materials gave people time to absorb how the industry worked. 

If AI handles more of those tasks, agencies will have to be much more deliberate about developing talent. Young PRs will need to learn judgement faster. 

That means teaching people to think commercially, understand how their clients make money, recognise reputational risk and spot a real story. It also means involving them in senior conversations earlier and explaining why decisions are being made. 

Agencies cannot assume that judgement will develop through osmosis. Training will need to focus much more clearly on thinking, curiosity and the ability to challenge. 

Clients want advantage, as well as efficiency 

Clients are understandably interested in where AI can deliver savings. Budgets are under pressure and procurement teams are examining agency costs more closely. 

However, the clients I speak to are even more interested in the value AI can add. They want to know how their agencies will use it to get them ahead, identify risk earlier and make better decisions. 

At Tangerine, we have created an AI-powered Crisis Lab which has transformed how we help clients prepare for reputational threats. It allows leadership teams to experience realistic, fast-moving scenarios across news, social media and internal stakeholders, then understand the strengths and weaknesses in their response. 

That has helped give us a seat at the table alongside legal counsel and other senior advisers. The technology enables the experience, but the real value comes from the strategic advice and judgement wrapped around it. 

This is where I see the biggest opportunity for AI in corporate communications. It gives good practitioners better tools and allows them to spend more time on the work that matters. 

Agencies need to be clearer about what they stand for 

The wider economy is making clients more cautious. There is greater scrutiny of spending, more competition for every pound and a sharper focus on what an agency can genuinely deliver. 

That pressure is also shaping pitches. Clients may expect agencies to demonstrate credible AI capability, but they remain wary of grand claims and expensive technology looking for a problem to solve. 

Generic integrated-agency language will struggle to cut through. Agencies need to be clear about what they stand for, where they add value and why clients should choose them. 

Any strong PR agency is now an earned agency that thinks agnostically about channels. 

The industry was built around newspapers and broadcasters. Both remain hugely influential, but digital relevance has become the currency of advocacy. The Burnham approach to communications, as noted in Tangerine’s informed paper on influencer culture in Westminster, should come as no surprise to practitioners who have already adapted to this reality. 

A national newspaper splash still matters. So does a TikTok comment thread, a Reddit post, a creator video, a LinkedIn debate or an AI answer that becomes the first thing somebody sees about a brand. 

The skill lies in understanding where influence sits, how a story will travel and what evidence different audiences will trust. 

The golden age of reputation 

AI is changing how communications work is produced, how audiences discover information and how reputations are formed. It is also exposing the limits of low-value, generic PR. 

That should make our industry ambitious. 

Businesses are facing greater scrutiny across more channels, while leadership teams need trusted advisers who can help them understand risk and make decisions that stand up to challenge. 

This is the golden age of reputation. Any PR practitioner working in it should feel privileged.